Does It Pay, at the Margin, to Work and Save?
-- Measuring Effective Marginal Taxes on Americans’ Labor Supply and Saving
by
Laurence J. Kotlikoff
Boston University
National Bureau of Economic Research
and
David Rapson
Boston University
October 2006
JEL code H1, H2, H3
We thank Jane Gravelle, Alexi Sluchynsky, and Adam Looney for critical advice and
comments. This paper builds and draws on Gokhale, Kotlikoff, and Sluchynsky (2002).
Abstract
Building on Gokhale, Kotlikoff, and Sluchynsky’s (2002) study of Americans’ incentives
to work full or part time, this paper uses ESPlanner, a life-cycle financial planning
program, in conjunction with detailed modeling of transfer programs to determine a) total
marginal net tax rates on current labor supply, b) total net marginal tax rates on life-cycle
labor supply, c) total net marginal tax rates on saving, and d) the tax-arbitrage
opportunities available from contributing to retirement accounts.
In seeking to provide the most comprehensive analysis to date of fiscal incentives, the
paper incorporates federal and state personal income taxes, the FICA payroll tax, federal
and state corporate income taxes, federal and state sales and excise taxes, Social Security
benefits, Medicare benefits, Medicaid benefits, Foods Stamps, welfare (TAFCD)
benefits, and other transfer program benefits.
The paper offers four main takeaways. First, thanks to the incredible complexity of the
U.S. fiscal system, it’s impossible for anyone to understand her incentive to work, save,
or contribute to retirement accounts absent highly advanced computer technology and
software. Second, the U.S. fiscal system provides most households with very strong
reasons to limit their labor supply and saving. Third, the system offers very high-income
young and middle aged households as well as most older households tremendous
opportunities to arbitrage the tax system by contributing to retirement accounts. Fourth,
the patterns by age and income of marginal net tax rates on earnings, marginal net tax
rates on saving, and tax-arbitrage opportunities can be summarized with one word –
bizarre.
I. Introduction
Households both want and need to understand the incentives they face at the
margin for working and saving. Yet any American seeking to understand her total
effective net marginal tax on either choice faces a daunting challenge. First, she needs to
consider a host of taxes and transfers including federal personal income taxes, federal
corporate income taxes, federal payroll taxes, federal excise taxes, state personal income
taxes, state corporate income taxes, state sales taxes, state excise taxes, Social Security
benefits, welfare benefits (TAFDC), Supplemental Security Income benefits (SSI),
Medicaid benefits, Medicare benefit, food stamps, nutrition benefits (WIC), and energy
assistance benefits (LIHEAP). Second, she needs to understand in very fine detail how
each of these taxes and transfers is calculated. Third, she needs to understand the
interactions of the different tax and transfer programs. Fourth, she needs to consider the
fact that these taxes and transfers are paid and received over time. And fifth, she needs to
have a method for translating all of these interconnected time-dated tax payments and
benefit receipts into a simple and comprehensible statement of her marginal reward for
working and saving.
This paper uses ESPlannerTM (Economic Security PlannerTM) in conjunction with
detailed modeling of non-Social Security transfer programs (ESPlanner incorporates
Social Security) to generate total effective (net) marginal taxes on labor supply and
saving for stylized American households. It also examines the tax arbitrage opportunity
available to households from saving in either a) 401(k), traditional IRA, or other taxdeferred retirement accounts or b) Roth IRAs, Roth 401(k)s, or other Roth accounts.
The paper builds and draws on Gokhale, Kotlikoff, and Sluchynsky (2002) which
1
studied the incentives of Americans to work full or part time. That study showed that the
overall tax/transfer system is progressive, particularly at the very low end of the earnings
distribution, that all households face very high marginal taxes on the choice of working
full or part time, that many low- and moderate-income households face substantially
higher marginal taxes on working full or part time than do high-income households, and
that many low-income households face confiscatory taxes on switching from full to part
time work or from switching from full-time work by one spouse to full-time work by
both spouses.
The value added of this paper relative to Gokhale, Kotlikoff, and Sluchynsky
(2002) is that we consider the marginal net taxes on working extra hours in the current
year, working extra hours throughout one’s career, and increasing one’s current saving.
We also examine the tax arbitrage opportunity available to different households from
contributing to a) 401(k), traditional IRA, or similar tax-deferred accounts or b) Roth
IRAs, Roth 401(k)s, or other Roth accounts.
With the exception of certain very low-earning households, we find high to very
high marginal net tax rates – ranging from 24 to 45 percent -- on current and life-cycle
labor supply. These calculations are made at particular levels of pre-tax and pre-transfer
earnings and are based on discrete increments in earnings. As we also demonstrate,
marginal net tax rates on current and life-cycle labor supply are astronomical over much
smaller increments in gross earnings at particular levels of earnings at which income and
asset eligibility tests of particular tax and transfer programs become relevant.
The Congressional Budget Office’s (2005) recent study of effective tax rates on
labor supply reports much lower marginal rates, particularly for low-income households,
2
than those we report. The reason is that the CBO ignores transfer payments and federal
and state sales and excise taxes.
At low incomes (when transfer benefits are often linked directly to income) our
estimates of marginal effective rates are 80 to 100 percentage points higher than the CBO
in some cases. For example, 60 year old couples earning $10,000/yr are within the EITC
phase-in region, which results in a CBO estimated marginal rate of -40%. However, at
this income they also face a one-for-one reduction in food stamps. After accounting for
all of the relevant transfer programs, the resulting effective marginal rate is 50%, or 90
percentage points higher than the CBO estimate. Aside from these few extreme cases, the
differences are smaller, but still substantial. Our estimates for low- to mid-income
households are 30 to 50 points higher than the CBO, and 10 to 25 points higher for midto high-income households.
In addition to finding high to very high marginal net taxes on labor supply for
virtually all American households, we also find high to very high marginal net tax rates
on saving for most households. For some low-income households, we find astronomical
net tax rates on saving; for these households higher saving means higher future assets and
higher asset income, which can reduce eligibility for transfer payments via asset and
income tests. Finally, we find huge arbitrage opportunities for particular households of
particular ages and earnings levels from contributing to either tax-deferred retirement
accounts or Roth IRAs, Roth 401(k)s, or other Roth accounts.
The paper provides four main takeaways. First, thanks to the incredible
complexity of the U.S. fiscal system, it’s essentially impossible for anyone to understand
her incentive to work, save, or contribute to retirement accounts absent highly advanced
3
computer technology and software.
Second, the U.S. fiscal system provides most
households with very strong reasons to limit their labor supply and saving. Third, the
system offers very high-income young and middle aged households as well as most older
households tremendous opportunities to arbitrage the tax system by contributing to
retirement accounts. Fourth, the patterns by age and income of marginal net tax rates on
earnings, marginal net tax rates on saving, and tax-arbitrage opportunities can be
summarized with one word – bizarre.
We proceed in section II by laying out our methods for measuring total marginal
net taxes on working additional hours and on saving. Section III describes ESPlanner
and its use in this paper. Section IV presents our stylized households. Section V presents
results, and Section VI concludes.
II. Measuring Total Effective Marginal Tax Rates and the Tax Arbitrage
Opportunities Afforded by Retirement Accounts
Economists measure the gain from extra work or saving in terms of its potential
impact on consumption. The gain from extra current work is typically measured in terms
of its maximum impact on current consumption. Thus, if a worker earns an extra $100
this year, permitting this year’s consumption to rise, at most, by $50, we say the worker
faces a 50 percent effective marginal tax on her labor supply. The terms “effective”
reference marginal taxes paid net of marginal transfer payments received. Since a large
component of some households’ incomes, particular those of low income households,
comes from government transfer programs, including such payments in the analysis of
earnings and saving incentives is essential.
4
Of course working and earning more in the current year is just one potential
margin of choice when it comes to expanding labor supply. We say “potential” because
some workers may be in jobs in which the hours they work are pre-set by their employer
and can’t be changed. For such workers, the only way to adjust their annual hours
worked is to switch jobs.
In this paper we calculate net marginal tax rates on working additional hours in
just the current year. But we also determine the net marginal incentives associated with
permanently adjusting annual hours worked by switching from a job with a low fixedlevel of annual hours to one with a high fixed-level of annual hours. We refer to such a
job change as an increase in life-cycle labor supply. To measure this net tax rate we
compare the change in the present value lifetime income before any taxes and transfer
payments arising from a uniform increase in annual hours (and earnings, since we
consider fixed real wages per hour) to the change in the present value of lifetime
spending permitted by this additional labor supply.
Our third marginal tax of interest is that on extra saving. The gain from extra
saving can be measured in terms of the impact on future consumption of forgoing a fixed
amount of current consumption. Consider, for example, a two-period (youth and old age)
framework. In the absence of any effective marginal tax on saving, reducing current
consumption when young by $100 would lead to an increase in consumption when old,
measured in present value, of exactly $100. If consumption when old, measured in
present value, rises by only $50, the saver faces a 50 percent marginal net tax on saving. 1
Our analysis involves, of course, households that live for many years, not just two
1 Alternatively, we can say that the tax on future consumption is 100 percent since the price, measured in
present value, of consuming $100 when old has risen from $50 to $100.
5
periods. When there is more than one period (more than one future year) in which to
consume, there is no standard definition of the effective tax rate on saving. One could,
for example, consider how much reducing this year’s consumption by, say, $100 will
increase the present value of future consumption spending assuming the additional future
spending power is all allocated to next year’s consumption. Alternatively, one could
allocate all the future spending power to consumption 10 years out, or 20 years out, or in
any future year one chooses. One could also spread the extra spending power uniformly
over all future years. Each such choice will generate a different measure of the effective
tax rate. The reason is that the longer one pushes out the allocation of the extra spending
power, the higher will be the effective tax rate thanks to the nature of compounding.
Our response to this surfeit of computable saving tax rates is to present the saving
rate associated with reducing current consumption and raising all future consumption
levels by the same percentage. More precisely, we compare the present value increase in
future spending that can be financed by a given reduction in current spending assuming
that spending in each future year rises by the same percentage.
Our final goal is to illustrate the arbitrage opportunities available to households
for saving in either a) 401(k), traditional IRA, or tax-deferred accounts or b) Roth IRAs,
Roth 401(k)s, or other Roth accounts. As described below, we arrange this analysis such
that one can directly compare the arbitrage the arbitrage opportunities from contribution
to tax-deferred accounts with those from contributing to Roth IRAs, Roth 401(k)s, or
other Roth accounts.
6
Accounting for Transfer Payments
Both marginal earnings and marginal saving can alter the amount of transfers
received, which will, in turn, affect the calculation of effective tax rates. As is well
known, marginal-transfer schedules are highly non-linear.
For example, in
Massachusetts – the state in which we assume our stylized households reside, a
household is eligible to receive welfare (TAFDC) if its assets are below $2500. If this
household currently receives welfare and holds $2499 in assets, an additional dollar
saved will render it TAFDC-ineligible. As another example, consider a two-parent
family that earns $25,736 per year in labor income and has two dependent children. In
Massachusetts, this family is eligible to receive nearly $14,000 in transfers, most of
which come from Medicaid. 2 Earning an additional dollar or, indeed, an extra penny,
causes the family to lose Medicaid eligibility.
Accounting for government transfer programs in the estimation of tax rates raises
three issues. One is simply their accurate measurement, which requires taking into
account each program’s eligibility, income, and asset tests.
This is a significant
undertaking given that ESPlanner does not compute transfer payments apart from Social
Security benefits. As described in the Appendix, our transfer benefit calculator assesses
household eligibility for each of the transfer programs and applies all applicable income
and asset taxes in determining benefit levels.
The second issue is the fungibility of transfer payments. Certain benefits, like
Medicare and Medicaid, are in-kind and must be consumed in the year received. Others,
like TAFDC and, potentially, Food Stamps are fungible. Ideally, one would want to enter
2 In assuming that eligible households receive average benefits from transfer programs like Medicaid to
particular households we are ignoring the insurance value of these programs
7
fungible benefits as special receipts in ESPlanner and treat non-fungible benefits as
consumption in the year they are received. But given the time involved in entering a
large number of fungible special receipts in a large number of ESPlanner profiles, we
opted to treat all transfer payments as non-fungible, i.e., as consumed in the year they are
received.
A third challenge in incorporating transfer payments is identifying the precise
point at which marginal net tax rates spike. As is well known, marginal net tax rates can
be extremely high at certain levels of earnings and saving because of the discontinuous
nature of tax and transfer schedules. 3 The examples just sighted in which earning extra
penny of income trigger major losses in TAFCD and Medicaid benefits are cases in point.
Identifying these spikes requires considering very small increments in earnings and
saving in the range of earnings and saving where such spikes are known to occur. Our
initial analysis uses discreet increments equal to the maximum of $100 or 1 percent of
earnings to determine the general pattern of labor supply incentives. We then consider
much smaller increments to determine precisely where marginal net tax rates spike.
Calculating Marginal Net Taxes on Current Labor Supply
To calculate marginal net tax rates on current labor supply we simply calculate
the marginal income net of taxes and gross of transfer payments that would be generated
from earning additional income in the current year and then assume this additional net
income is spent in the current year. 4 To determine how much current net income rises for
3 If one could earn infinitesimal amounts, effective marginal net tax rates in these cases would be infinite.
But since the smallest increment one can earn is a penny, effective marginal net tax rates, while potentially
extremely high, are finite.
4 In maintaining fixed current saving, we’re ensuring no change in future incomes and transfer payments
8
a given increment in current earnings, we run each of our stylized households through
ESPlanner as well as through our annual transfer benefit calculator twice – first, based on
their initial levels of earnings and then based on an incremented level of earnings.
Equation (1) provides a formula for the our net tax rate, τ c , on current labor
supply. In the formula, ΔE stands for the change in current-year labor earnings, ΔT for
the change in current-year taxes, ΔX for the change in current-year transfer payments
received, θ s for the state sales tax, and θ e for the rate of federal excise taxation. 5
(1)
τc = 1−
ΔE − ΔT + Δ X
.
(1 + θ s + θ e )ΔE
Note that the standard formula for the net tax rate on labor supply is τ c =
ΔT − ΔX
. But
ΔE
the standard formula ignores sales and excise taxes; i.e., it treats both θ s and θ e as
equaling zero. This is clearly inappropriate since sales and excise taxes, like income and
payroll taxes, limit the amount of actual consumption (not consumption expenditure) a
worker can enjoy by working more and earning more income. 6 Dividing the change in
expenditure associated with additional earnings ( ΔE - ΔT - ΔX ) by the sales- and excisetax inclusive consumer price of a dollar of expenditure, (1+ θ s + θ e ), determines how
with one exception – future Social Security benefits. These benefits are potentially changed due to the
presence of higher current earnings in the worker’s ultimate earnings record. Including the impact of these
Social Security benefit changes on current consumption is a goal of our future research. However, it’s
important to bear in mind that Social Security benefit changes, to the extent they arise, can only influence
current spending insofar as the worker (or household to which the worker belongs) is not liquidity
constrained. Many of our stylized households are so constrained.
5 The sales tax in Massachusetts is 5%, and the federal excise tax accounts for approximately 0.9% of
aggregate consumption in the U.S. Hence, we set θ s = 0.05 and θ e = 0.009.
6 Sales and excise taxes also represent taxes on wealth since, like earnings, when wealth is spent, the
spender pays these taxes and ends up getting less actual consumption than would otherwise be the case.
9
much actual consumption a worker ends up with if she increases her earnings by ΔE . 7
Calculating Marginal Net Taxes on Life-Cycle Labor Supply
We define the net marginal tax on life-cycle labor supply, τ l , in (2).
(2)
τl = 1−
PVΔC
,
(1 + θ s + θ e ) PVΔE
where PVΔC denotes the change in the present value of total consumption and other “offthe-top” spending (on housing, insurance premiums, and special expenditures) and PVΔE
denotes the change in the present value of lifetime earnings arising from a uniform
increase in annual earnings. As discussed in more detail shortly, the discount rate used
to form these present values is the return before both corporate and individual taxes.
To calculate PVΔC we a) use ESPlanner to calculate the present value of total
spending (consumption spending, housing spending, special expenditures, and insurance
premiums) given base-case annual earnings and b) add to this present value of total
spending the present value of transfer payments accruing to the household given
ESPlanner’s calculated annual time path of annual total income and assets. Next we
increase annual household earnings by a fixed amount each year (specifically, 1 percent
of each household’s assumed fixed annual real earnings) through retirement and use
ESPlanner plus our transfer calculator to obtain new present values of remaining lifetime
earnings and total spending. Differencing the new and previously derived present values
of total spending provides the numerator in (2). The denominator is determined by
7 In a static setting a worker’s budget constraint is (1+ θ s + θ e )C = w(1-τ), where τ is the sum of income
and payroll tax rates and w is the pre-tax wage. But one can rewrite this constraint as
C = w(1-τ)/(1+ θ s + θ e ). Letting τe stand for the effective tax rate on labor supply, we have C = w(1-τe),
where τe = 1 - (1-τ)/(1+ θ s + θ e ), which is the same as equation (1).
10
simply forming the present value of annual increases in pre-tax and pre-transfer payments
earnings.
Since ESPlanner smooths households’ living standards subject to borrowing
constraints, it will spend extra earnings in a given year on consumption in all years
provided doing so does not violate the user-specified limit on borrow. For purposes of
calculating τ l we specify this limit at zero. To the extent that borrowing constraints
permit, ESPlanner will freely spend in one year earnings generated in another. In so
doing, the program will alter the time path of regular asset, regular asset income, and
taxes levied on regular asset income. Hence, our tax rate τ l on life-cycle earnings will
pick up more than simply taxes levied on earnings. It will also capture marginal taxation
of saving. Thus, we don’t claim τ l to represent solely a marginal net tax on life-cycle
earnings, but rather a marginal net tax on increased annual earnings that is then subject to
as much consumption smoothing as possible. 8
Calculating Effective Marginal Taxes on Regular Saving
As indicated, we measure the effective tax rate on saving assuming that the
reduction in 2005 spending is allocated uniformly to all future periods such that the living
standard in all future periods rises by the same percentage. To effect this outcome in
ESPlanner we do two things. First, we permit all our stylized households to borrow as
much as the need in order to fully smooth their living standards as well as to use
8 Roughly two-thirds of young American households appear to be liquidity constrained (see Kotlikoff,
Marx, and Rizza, 2006). This doesn’t necessarily mean that they have zero current fungible assets. Instead
it means that their living standard per person in the future will be higher than it is in the present and that
whatever saving they are doing is for purposes of smoothing their living standards in the short or medium
runs. Like typical young households, all but the highest earning of our stylized young households are
liquidity constrained.
11
additional current saving to effect a uniform rise in their future living standards. 9
Second, we raise the program’s living standard index for all years from 2006 onward by
10 percent and compared the increase in the present value of consumption spending from
2006 onward with the associated reduction in consumption spending in 2005. This
second step leads the program to lower current consumption spending, while increasing
future consumption spending each year by the same percentage, thus effecting a uniform
rise in living standard in all future years.
The discount rate used to determine the present value change in future
consumption, all measured in 2005 dollars, is 7.0 percent, which is our assumed pre- all
taxes real rate of return. This pre-tax return is the return one would receive before the
application of any federal and state personal or corporate income taxes. In using this
return, we are, in effect, incorporating marginal effective corporate capital income taxes
as well as marginal effective personal capital income taxes.
To see why one needs to discount at the pre- all taxes return, consider a twoperiod framework with lifetime household budget constraint given by
(3)
c y + c o /(1 + r ) = e y + eo /(1 + r ) − T y − To /(1 + r ) .
The return r is pre all taxes. The terms cy and co stand for consumption when young and
old. The terms ey, eo, Ty, and Tc stand, respectively, for pre-tax earnings when young, pretax earnings when old, net taxes paid when young, and net taxes paid when old. Net
taxes here are comprehensive; for example, taxes when old include, in the U.S. context,
corporate income taxes, personal capital income taxes, personal labor income taxes, state
9 In assuming that all of our stylized households are able to borrow, we don’t mean to suggest that such
borrowing is feasible. Instead, we seek to understand how our tax-transfer system affects the incentive to
save were households actually able to do so.
12
income taxes, payroll taxes, sales taxes, and excise taxes net of all manner of available
transfer payments.
Consumption, earnings, and taxes when old are discounted at rate r. For a given
reduction in current consumption equal, say, to Δcy, the marginal net tax rate on saving,
τs, is given by
(4)
τs =
ΔT y + ΔTo /(1 + r )
Δc y
.
The formula for τs tells us the percentage degree to which the present value of future
consumption, Δco/(1+r), fails to rise by the same amount (in absolute value) that current
consumption falls; i.e., were τs to equal zero, Δco/(1+r) would equal - Δcy according to (3)
under our assumption that e y + eo /(1 + r ) don’t change.
Note that if one knows r and the value of Δco, one can compute
ΔT y + ΔTo /(1 + r )
Δc y
by calculating
Δco /(1 + r )
and subtracting 1 from the resulting ratio.
− Δc y
Now we know r, but how do we determine Δco? For purposes of this study, the answer is
that we use ESPlanner to determine Δco (actually, the change in each future year’s
consumption).
To be clear, ESPlanner is operating not off the budget constraint (3), but off the
following budget constraint,
(4)
c y + co /(1 + r n ) = e y + eo /(1 + r n ) −T y −Ton /(1 + r ) ,
where rn is the return households earn pre-individual capital income taxes, but post
corporate income taxes and Tno are individual income taxes paid when old (i.e., Tno does
not include corporate income tax payments).
13
Given the assumed linearity of the
corporate income tax, the two budget constraints (3) and (4) are mutually consistent, so
there is no problem using (4) to determine Δco and then plugging this amount into the
formula 1 - Δco/(1+r)/ - Δcy to form the desired marginal net tax rate on saving. To see
this, write rn = r(1- τc), where τc is the corporate income tax rate. If one substitutes this
expression for rn in (4) and notes that To - Tno = (eo –Ty –cy) r τc (i.e., the two variables
differ by the amount of the corporate tax revenue), one arrives at (3).
Return Assumptions Used in Running ESPlanner
In running ESPlanner we enter an 8.33 percent nominal rate of return. Given our
3 percent inflation rate assumption, this translates into a 5.17 percent post-corporate tax
real return. 10 We use a 7.0 percent real pre-corporate tax rate of rate (the r in equation
(3)) to do the discounting needed to form tax rates on life-cycle labor supply and saving.
We arrived at these values based on consultations with Jane Gravelle.
Assessing the Tax-Arbitrage Opportunities in Contributing to Retirement Accounts
So far we’ve considered only marginal net taxation of regular saving. But much
of household saving is currently being done within either 401(k) and other tax-deferred
retirement accounts or within Roth IRAs, Roth 401(k)s, or other Roth accounts.
Contributing to these accounts does not, however, necessarily entail any reduction in
current consumption. Indeed, contributing to these accounts represents a tax arbitrage
opportunity if, as we’ve been assuming, households are not liquidity constrained.
To assess these tax-arbitrage opportunities we measure the increase in the present
value of all consumption -- current as well as future – per net dollar contributed to either
10 The formula for the real return is actually (1+i)/(1+π )-1.
14
type of retirement account. The “net” in “per net dollar” refers to the contribution net of
current taxes saved. Thus, if we have a household contribute X to a 401(k) account and it
saves the household Y in current taxes, we define the net dollar contribution to be X–Y.
This is the amount by which the household’s liquid assets are reduced by the transactions.
Since Roth contributions are made before tax and do not affect current taxable income,
we consider contributions of size X-Y in order to maintain comparability with respect to
our analysis of contributions to tax-deferred accounts.
Our analysis here does not include any marginal employer matching contribution.
The reason is that we want to understand the pure tax arbitrage incentives presented by
retirement “saving” as opposed to the incentive to “save” in retirement accounts
presented by employers.
III. Using ESPlanner to Measure Total Effective Marginal Tax Rates
The methods discussed above to calculate marginal net taxes on life-cycle labor
supply and on saving require the use of a dynamic life-cycle model that jointly calculates
all future taxes and transfer payments.
ESPlanner is clearly one such model.
It
determines a household’s highest sustainable living standard within each non-liquidity
constrained interval of its life and the consumption, saving, and term life insurance
holdings needed to smooth the household’s living standard within each non-constrained
interval. The program uses dynamic programming in forming its recommendations.
Dynamic programming is needed to deal both with potential borrowing constraints and
with non-negativity constraints on life insurance holdings.
The program takes into account the following user-specified inputs: the
15
household’s state of residence, current and future planned children and their years of
birth, current and future regular and self-employment earnings, current and future special
expenditures and receipts (as well as their tax status), current and future levels of a
reserve fund, current regular and retirement account balances, current and future own and
employer contributions to retirement accounts (with Roth account contributions treated
separately), current and future primary and vacation home values, mortgages, rental
expenses, and other housing expenditures, current and future states of residence, ages of
retirement account withdrawals, ages of initial Social Security benefit receipt, past and
future covered Social Security earnings, desired funeral expenses and bequests, current
regular saving and life insurance holdings, the economies of shared living, the relative
cost of children, the extent of future changes in Social Security benefits, the extent of
future changes in federal income taxes, FICA taxes, and state income taxes, current and
future pension and annuities (including lump sum and survivor benefits), the degree to
which the household will annuitize its retirement account assets, and values of future
earnings, special expenditures, receipts, and other variables in survivor states in which
either the head or her spouse/partner is deceased.
The living standard of members of a household is defined by ESPlanner as the
amount of consumption expenditure an adult would need to make to enjoy as a single
person with no children the same living standard she enjoys in the household. The
equation relating a household’s living standard per member to its total consumption
expenditure takes into account economies in shared living and the relative cost of
children. 11 Consumption expenditure is defined by ESPlanner as all expenditures apart
11 Let C stand for a household’s total consumption expenditure, s for its living standard per equivalent
adult, ki for the number of children age i, θi for relative cost of a child age i, N for the number of adults, and
16
from special expenditures, such as college tuition for children, housing expenditures,
taxes, life insurance premiums, regular saving, and contributions to retirement accounts.
ESPlanner’s Tax Calculations
ESPlanner makes highly detailed federal income, FICA, and state-specific
income tax as well as Social Security benefit calculations. These tax and benefit levels
are the only non-user specified variables influencing the program’s consumption
smoothing calculations.
The program’s federal and state income-tax calculators determine whether the
household should itemize its deductions, compute deductions and exemptions, deduct
from taxable income contributions to tax-deferred retirement accounts, include in taxable
income withdrawals from such accounts as well as the taxable component of Social
Security benefits, check, in the case of federal income taxes, for Alternative Minimum
Tax liability, and calculate total tax liabilities after all applicable refundable and nonrefundable tax credits including the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Credit, and the
Saver’s credit. These federal and state tax calculations are made separately for each year
that the couple is alive as well as for each year a survivor may be alive.
Given the non-linearity of tax functions, one can’t determine a household’s tax
rates in future years without knowing its regular asset and other taxable income in those
years. But one can’t determine how much a household will consume and save and thus
have in asset income in future years without knowing the household’s future taxes.
Hence, there is a chicken and egg problem -- a simultaneity problem -- that needs to be
υ for the degree of economies of shared living. The relationship between C and s in a given year
ν
is C = s ( N + Σθ i k i ) .
i
17
resolved to make sure that consumption and saving decisions are consistent with the
future tax payments they help engender.
ESPlanner’s Social Security Benefit Calculations
In determining Social Security benefits the program takes full account of the
earnings test, early retirement reduction factors, the delayed retirement credit, the recomputation of benefits, the family benefit maximum, the phase-in to the system’s
ultimate age-67 normal retirement age, as well as offset and windfall elimination
provisions.
ESPlanner’s survivor tax and benefit calculations for surviving wives (husbands)
are made separately for each possible date of death of the husband (wife).
I.e.,
ESPlanner considers separately each date the husband (wife) might die and calculates the
taxes and benefits a surviving wife (husband) and her (his) children would receive each
year thereafter. Moreover, in calculating survivor-state specific retirement, survivor,
mother, father, and child dependent and survivor Social Security benefits, ESPlanner
takes account of all the just-mentioned benefit adjustment factors.
Checking the Calculations
Each component of ESPlanner’s tax code and transfer calculator, whether it be
the basics of the 1040 form, the provisions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the details
of the Alternative Minimum Tax, the tax treatment of housing capital gains, the taxation
of Social Security benefits, the TAFDC earnings test, the payment in the case of lowincome households of Medicare premiums by Medicaid, etc. -- has been rigorously
18
checked on a component by component basis. This is not to say that no bugs were found.
On the contrary, a goodly number were found thanks to independent checking over the
years by three software engineers and four economists as well as a large number of
ESPlanner users, including professional financial planners, who have examined the tax
and Social Security benefit calculations with extremely sharp eyes. 12
ESPlanner’s Algorithm
ESPlanner generates recommended levels of annual consumption expenditure,
saving, and term life insurance holdings. All recommendations are presented in today’s
dollars. Consumption in this context is everything the household gets to spend after
paying for its “off-the-top” expenditures – its housing expenses, special expenditures, life
insurance premiums, special bequests, taxes, and net contributions to tax-favored
accounts.
Given the household’s demographic information, preferences, borrowing
constraints, and non-negativity constraints on life insurance, ESPlanner calculates the
highest sustainable and smoothest possible living standard over time, leaving the
household with zero terminal assets (apart from the equity in homes that the user has
chosen not to sell) if either the household head, her spouse/partner, or both live to their
maximum ages of life.
12 Indeed, in the case of Social Security benefit calculations, a number of individual users and financial
planners have double checked ESPlanner’s Social Security’s benefit calculations with those produced by
Social Security Administration’s detailed ANYPIA calculator. A number have complained that
ESPlanner’s calculated benefits were too high. As they were told, ESPlanner’s benefit projections accord
precisely with those of the ANYPIA calculator in the case of users whose covered earnings all lie in the
past. But in the case of users with projected future covered earnings, ESPlanner’s projection of future
benefits differ from the ANYPIA’s projection for a simple reason. The ANYPIA calculator assumes no
future rise in the U.S. price level and no future real wage growth. This seems remarkable until one realizes
that the government doesn’t want to be in a position of implicitly promising higher benefits than it knows
for sure it will pay.
19
The amount of recommended consumption expenditures needed to achieve a
given living standard varies from year to year in response to changes in the household’s
composition. Moreover, the relationship between consumption and living standard in a
given year is non-linear for two reasons.
First, a non-linear function governs the
program’s assumed economies of shared living, with the function depending on the
number of equivalent adults. Second, the program permits users to specify that children
are less or more expensive than adults in terms of delivering a given living standard. The
default setting is that a child is 70 percent as expensive as an adult. Hence a household
with 2 adults and 2 children is specified, under the default assumptions, to entail 3.4
equivalent adults.
The program’s recommended consumption also rises when the household moves
from a situation of being liquidity constrained to one of being unconstrained. Finally,
recommended household consumption will change over time if users intentionally
specify, via the program’s standard of living index, that they want their living standard to
change.
Dealing with the simultaneity issues as well as the borrowing and non-negative
life insurance constraints all within a single dynamic program appears impossible given
the large number of state variables such an approach entails. 13
To overcome this
13 The simultaneity issue with respect to taxes mentioned above is just one of two such issues that need to
be considered. The second is the joint determination of life insurance holdings of potential decedents and
survivors. ESPlanner recognizes that widows and widowers may need to hold life insurance in order to
protect their children’s living standard through adulthood and to cover bequests, funeral expenses, and
debts (including mortgages) that exceed the survivor’s net worth inclusive of the equity on her/his house.
Accordingly, the software calculates these life insurance requirements and reports them in its survivor
reports. However, the more life insurance is purchased by the potential decedent, the less life insurance
survivors will need to purchase, assuming they have such a need. But this means survivors will pay less in
life insurance premiums and have less need for insurance protection from their decedent spouse/partner.
Hence, one can’t determine the potential decedent’s life insurance holdings until one determines the
survivor’s holdings. But one can’t determine the survivor’s holdings until one determines the decedent’s
holdings.
20
problem, ESPlanner uses an iterative method of dynamic programming. Specifically, the
program has two dynamic programs that pass data to one another on an iterative basis
until they both converge to a single mutually consistent solution to many decimal points
of accuracy.
One program takes age-specific life insurance premium payments as given and
calculates the household’s consumption smoothing conditional on these payments. The
other program takes the output of this consumption smoothing program -- the living
standard in each year that needs to be protected – as given. This second program
calculates how much life insurance is needed by both potential decedents and their
surviving spouses/partners.
This iterative procedure also deals with our two simultaneity issues. The trick
here is to form initial guesses of future taxes and survivor life insurance holdings and
update these guesses across successive iterations based on values of these variables
endogenously generated by the program in the previous iteration. When the program
concludes its calculations, current spending is fully consistent with future taxes and vice
versa, and the recommended life insurance holdings of heads and spouses/partners are
fully consistent with the recommended life insurance holdings of survivors.
Accounting for Employer-Paid FICA Taxes and Corporate Income Taxes
Since users enter their earnings net of employer-paid FICA taxes ESPlanner does
not explicitly calculate these taxes. Nor does it explicitly calculate corporate income
taxes since users enter their expected returns net of such taxes. From an economics
perspective, employer-paid payroll taxes are no less of a burden or a work or saving
21
disincentive than are those paid directly by employees.
Indeed, there is only one
economic difference between employer-paid and employee-paid payroll taxes; employerpaid payroll taxes are excludable from the calculation of adjusted gross income in
determining federal personal income tax liability, whereas employee-paid payroll taxes
are not.
Our procedure for including the employer FICA tax is to input into ESPlanner a
given increase in earnings, say X (where X is either an increase in current earnings or an
increase in the present value of future earnings), and compare the associated increase in
spending not with X, but with X plus the additional FICA tax paid on X. This sum
represents the full pre-tax compensation being paid to the household.
Like employer-paid payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, both federal and state,
also reduce the return to input suppliers. But unlike payroll taxes, where the input supply
is labor, the input supply relevant to the corporate income tax is household saving. This
saving helps finance corporations, and when corporations have to pay taxes, they can’t
pay as high a return to their investors. To capture this discrepancy between the pre- and
post-corporate tax rates of return, we use the pre-corporate tax discussed above in all the
discounting used to form present values. However, in actually running ESPlanner, we
enter the post-corporate return as an input in the program since, to repeat, ESPlanner
doesn’t calculate corporate taxes.
Non-Social Security Transfers
As indicated, our transfer calculator determines the level of benefits of seven
22
government programs available to residents of Massachusetts: Transitional Aid to
Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Food
Stamps, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women with Infants and Children
(WIC), Medicare, Medicaid, and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
(LIHEAP). For each year of potential life of our stylized households, we consider
whether the household is eligible for the transfer based on it demographics, income, and
assets and, if eligible, compute the appropriate benefit level taking into account any
relevant earnings and asset tests. These provisions can include earnings deductions, net
income adjustments (such as non-reimbursed out-of-pocket medical expenses), child
deductions, and housing deductions. Often the earnings tests are tied explicitly to the
federal poverty lines, which vary by the number of household members.
IV. Our Stylized Households
Our stylized households consist of either single individuals or married couples,
whose spouses are the same age. We consider households age 30, 45, and 60. Both the
single-headed households and the married households have two children to whom they
gave birth at ages 27 and 29. Table 1 lists key assumptions about the seven single and
seven married households we consider. The single households have initial labor earnings
ranging from $0 to $250,000. For the married couples, the spread is double that of the
singles, i.e., it ranges from $0 to $500,000. All household heads and spouses retire and
start collecting Social Security benefits at age 65. Earnings between the household’s
current (2005) age and retirement at the beginning of age 65 are assumed to remain fixed
in real terms.
23
Each household is assumed to have a home, a mortgage, and non-mortgage
housing expenses. The 30 year-old households have initial assets equal to a quarter of a
year’s earnings.
The older households are assumed to have the same assets that
ESPlanner determines the 30 year-olds to have at the age at which we consider the older
households. The households are also assumed to incur non-housing expenses, the most
significant component of which is annual college tuition. For ease of implementation,
and to avoid unrealistic profiles, tuition is assumed to be a quarter of a year’s earnings,
subject to a ceiling of $50,000 per child. The households pay these amounts each year for
four years for each child when the child is age 19 to 22.
The final assumption to discuss concerns longevity. The default assumption in
ESPlanner is that users have maximum ages of life of 100. Since the program is focused
on economic security, this seems appropriate; users may live this long and need to plan
for this eventuality. But for purposes of understanding the marginal net taxes households
pay, on average, the appropriate longevity assumption is expected, rather than maximum
lifespan. Hence, for this analysis, we run the stylized households through ESPlanner
under the assumption that household heads and their spouses or partners live to age 85.
This is greater than current life expectancy at birth, but seems appropriate given that we
are considering households age 30, 45, and 60.
V. Results
Tables 2 and 3 present our calculated marginal net tax rates on current labor
supply for couples and singles, respectively. The increment we consider in current
earnings is the maximum of $100 or 1 percent of current earnings. Consequently, the
24
marginal net tax rates we compute are relative to this increment. We discuss below
marginal net tax rates over 1 penny increments in earnings.
The first impression one gets from glancing at these tables is that marginal rates
calculated with respect to the aforementioned discrete earnings increments are either
moderate or high for essentially all households except for very low-earning young and
middle age couples as well as middle aged singles. For all households with $20,000 or
more in annual earnings, marginal net tax rates range from 24 percent to 45 percent.
The relationship of marginal rates to income is anything but monotonic in
earnings. Nor does it take on the U-shaped pattern suggested by optimal income tax
theory (see Diamond, 1998). Take couples age 30. The marginal rate is –14 percent at
$10,000 in earnings, 42 percent at $20,000, 24 percent at $50,000, 37 percent at $75,000,
46 percent at $150,000, 37 percent at $200,000, and 44 percent at $500,000.
In addition to anomalous patterns of marginal rates with income, holding age
constant, there are also unusual patterns with respect to age, holding income fixed. Take
singles earning $10,000. Thirty-year old members of this group face a marginal net tax
rate of 72 percent. Were they age 45, their marginal rate would be –10 percent. And
were they 60, their marginal rate would be 39 percent. As another example of the
surprising relationships between age and marginal rates, note that rates fall with age for
couples with $30,000 in earnings, but rise with age for couples with $75,000 in earnings.
Explaining Patterns of Work Incentives by Age and Earnings
How does one make sense of these findings? Well, the size of each marginal net
tax rate is easily traced to underlying marginal changes in particular taxes or transfer
25
payments. Take, for example, married households age 30 that earn $10,000 per year.
Their –14 percent net tax rate reflects the major marginal subsidy being provided to them
by the Earned Income Tax Credit; this subsidy significantly exceeds the marginal payroll
and sales and excise taxes they pay on additional earnings. 14 If this same household were
to earn $20,000, rather than $10,000, its marginal net tax rate would be 42 percent rather
than -14 percent. The reason is that at this higher earnings level, the EITC is being
clawed back at a rate of more than 20 cents on the dollar. In addition, the household
pays, at the margin, FICA and state income taxes and also gets hit by sales and excise
taxes.
Next consider the $10,000 couple, but at age 60.
Unlike their younger
counterparts, this couple is no longer eligible for the EITC because it no longer has young
children and its earnings exceed the income cutoff. On the other hand, the couple does
receive Food Stamps. But because it has no young children, the couple is in the Food
Stamps claw back range, where it loses 24 cents in Food Stamps per dollar earned. This
marginal tax in conjunction with the 15.3 employer and employee FICA, the
Massachusetts 5.3 percent income tax, the Massachusetts 5.0 percent sales tax, and the .9
percent assumed federal excise tax rate delivers a net marginal rate of 51 percent. 15
As a third example of one’s ability to precisely trace the anomalous nature of
these marginal net taxes, consider 30 year old singles who earn only $10,000 per year.
Unlike their married counterparts who face a 14 percent subsidy on additional current
earnings, these single households face a 72 percent marginal net tax. The major
difference between the two cases involves the clawback of TADFC. Because the single
14 This household pays no state income tax at the margin.
15 To be clear, there are interactions in the separate marginal net tax provisions, so these rates are not
simply additive for this or any other household.
26
household’s family size is smaller, it faces the TADFC clawback of 100 cents on the
dollar when it earns $10,000, whereas the married household faces this effective marginal
tax only at a higher earnings level.
Surprisingly, if the $10,000 single household is age 45 rather than age 30, the
marginal net tax is –10 percent rather than 72 percent.
What explains this huge
difference? The answer has to do with the TAFDC benefit. Because the 45 year-old
single household has older children, it no longer qualifies for the TAFDC daycare
allowance or, consequently, any TAFDC benefits.
At the margin it therefore faces no
TAFDC clawback tax. On the other hand, its earnings are so low that it’s in the Earned
Income Tax Credit’s positive subsidy range. This subsidy is sufficiently high to produce
a negative net marginal tax on labor supply notwithstanding the state, FICA, sales, and
excise taxes this household must pay on marginal earnings.
If we advance this household’s age by another 15 years and consider it at age 60,
we find it again faces a very high, positive marginal net tax, in this case 39 percent.
Because this household’s children are now grown, it finds itself in the EITC clawback
range, which contributes significantly to the total net marginal tax it faces.
Tracing each household’s marginal net tax on supplying more current earnings is
one thing. Understanding why anyone would intentionally design a fiscal system with
such a bizarre pattern of work incentives by age and earnings is another. The explanation
is that these patterns are unintended. Indeed, for federal and state government officials to
have intentionally designed these incentives would have required them to know what they
were doing. But, to our understanding, this is the very first study to have incorporated all
27
of the major federal and state tax-transfer programs. 16 Thus, those who designed this
sausage could literally not have known what they were doing.
But why didn’t they try to find out? The answer is that no single government body
is responsible for the overall structure of our fiscal incentives. Instead, the twenty or so
major tax-transfer programs/provisions that combine to produce these bizarre incentives
are being set by various federal and state governmental committees/bodies each of whom
ignore, for the most part, the workings of the others and focus only on the details of the
program/provision over which they have responsibility.
Marginal Net Tax Rates on Life-Cycle Labor Supply
Table 4 presents marginal life-cycle net tax rates for our 30-year old households.
In these calculations, the increment in annual earnings is the maximum of $100 or 1
percent of each year’s earnings. First consider couples. Their net tax rates are generally
similar to the current marginal tax rates reported in Table 2 for 30 year-old couples. The
main differences occur at $10,000, $50,000, and $500,000 in income. At these income
rates the life-cycle net tax rates are significantly higher than the current-year rates. This
is not to suggestion that life-cycle rates are always higher for given income levels. There
are several income levels in tables 2 and 4 at which the life-cycle rates are lower.
For single households age 30, life-cycle and current-year marginal rates are very
different for earnings below $125,000, but quite similar at that level of earnings and
above. Take the $10,000 earnings case. The current-year marginal net tax rate is 72
16 To its credit, the Congressional Budget Office has been providing Congress with detailed studies of
marginal effective federal income tax rates. But Congressional Budget Office (2005) and prior studies do
not include state income taxes, sales or excise taxes, or any of the seven major transfer programs included
here. Moreover, these studies do not use a dynamic/intertemporal model and, consequently, can not
address saving or life-cycle labor supply incentives.
28
percent, whereas the life-cycle rate is only 2 percent. At $75,000 in earnings, the lifecycle rate is 76 percent, whereas the current-year rate is 37 percent. Part of what is going
on here is that low-income households that are eligible for Medicaid, TAFDC, and other
welfare benefits in the current year will not be receiving these benefits throughout their
lives because of changes in their household demographics and levels of non-labor
income.
Budget Constraints
Now that we’ve provided a broad brush overview of marginal net tax rates
measured over discrete intervals, we turn to a more detailed analysis of the highly nonlinear and complex budget constraints facing typical earners. The figures at the end of
the paper show current year and lifetime budget constraints. The current year budget
constraints relate current year net income to current year gross income. The slope of this
constraint determines the current year marginal net tax rate.
The lifetime budget
constraints show how the present value of lifetime spending varies with annual real
earnings, where we’re assuming the same annual earnings in all years of work. 17 The
slope of this budget constraint determines what we’ve been referring to as the life-cycle
marginal net tax rate. We also present figures indicating marginal net tax rates on current
labor supply as well as the marginal net tax rates on life-cycle labor supply confronting
30 year-old households.
Take, as an example, the figure relating current net income to current gross
income for 45 year-old couples. And consider a $25,000 initial total household earnings
17 The present value of lifetime spending includes here the present value of non-Social Security transfer
payments, which, to recall, we are treating as being consumed/spent in the year received.
29
level, which is close to what the head and spouse would collectively earn were they to
work full time at the minimum wage. This income places the couple about 30 percent
above the federal poverty line, but is low enough that the whole family is eligible for
Medicaid benefits in Massachusetts.
Recall that this household has two dependent
children, both of whom are college bound. It also has a $75,000 house with a fifteen year
remaining mortgage whose balance is just over $30,000.
Because of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Medicaid, and other benefits
provided by federal and state transfer programs, this household has net income of just
over $40,000 per year. If the couple earns additional wage income, several things will
happen. First, every additional dollar earned will generate a clawback of the EITC at the
rate of 21 cents per dollar earned.
More importantly, if the couple earns enough
additional income, it will lose eligibility for roughly $15,000 in Medicaid benefits. The
figure showing marginal net tax rates levied on this household’s current labor supply
identify where these rates become extremely high. This occurs at points where the
households’ incomes exceed income-test thresholds for the various transfer programs.
One way to appreciate the size of work disincentives facing this household is to
ask how much more it must earn, after losing all its benefits, to achieve the same living
standard it enjoys when earning $25,000 and receiving all its benefits. The answer is
roughly $50,000. I.e., the couple has to double its earnings simply to break even with
respect to maintaining its living standard. Such high net taxes apply to all low-income
households, regardless of age or marital status.
The life-cycle labor supply budget figures as well as their associate marginal net
tax-rate diagrams also indicate kinks and high rates of marginal net taxes but these kinks
30
and high rates don’t necessarily line up with those associated with current labor supply.
These life-cycle figures tell us not just about the incentives to work more each year, but
also about the incentives to take costly steps, such as enhancing one’s education or
switching to a more demanding job, that will raise one’s annual earnings for a given level
of labor supply by raising one’s hourly wage rate.
To further appreciate the nature of life-cycle labor supply disincentives, consider
our 60 year-old couple earning only $10,000. For this couple earning $55,000 a year for
the duration of its working life is only marginally better than earning $10,000. The
$10,000/yr household has remaining lifetime spending of $473,000 whereas the
$55,000/yr household will spend $480,000. As can be seen in the figure below, all
households with incomes between $10,000 and $55,000 will have lower remaining
lifetime spending than the $10,000 household. The reason is simple: between $12,000
and $13,000/yr in income, the couple loses its Medicaid benefits in retirement, thanks to
the Medicaid asset test, and between $17,000 and $18,000/yr in income it loses Medicaid
benefits from age 60-65. These losses (which occur every year between age 60 and death)
amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in present value.
Younger households face similar life-cycle budget constraints, but the life-cycle
labor supply disincentives are considerably smaller. This is because Medicaid
expenditures comprise a larger fraction of remaining lifetime consumption at age 60 than
age 30 or 45. Discounting these future losses to present value and recognizing that
younger couples have far more years of working over which to make up the transfer
losses makes clear why younger households are not as adversely affected. For 30 year old
couples and singles, they must earn $10,000 to $15,000/yr more to overcome their loss of
31
Medicaid when it occurs; 45 year olds must earn $15,000-25,000/yr more; and, to repeat,
60 year olds must earn $25,000-$45,000/yr more.
Measuring Marginal Net Taxes on Saving
Tables 5 and 6 present our marginal net tax rates on regular and retirement
account saving by age and earnings levels. The increment in current saving we consider
ranges from $500 to $5,500 depending on the household’s earnings level. Consider first
the regular saving findings for couples. Most of the net tax rates fall in the range of 20
to 40 percent. The highest rate is 52 percent, which applies to 30 year-old households
making $500,000 per year.
This is part of a pattern for young and middle-aged
households in which the net tax rate on regular saving rises with income. But for 60
year-old couples, the rate is 39 percent at the lowest earnings level, then falls to 22
percent and then climbs to 36 percent for households with $500,000 in earnings.
The regular saving net tax rates for singles are far a-field from those for couples.
For very low-earning, young and middle aged singles, the rates are astronomical
reflecting the impact of asset tests on various transfer benefits. At higher incomes and at
older ages, the rates range from around 20 percent to around 40 percent. Above $34,000
in annual earnings these rates generally rise.
Measuring Retirement Account Tax Arbitrage Opportunities
Tables 5 and 6 present our findings on tax arbitrage via contributions to taxdeferred retirement accounts, which we reference as “401(k)”-type accounts and Roth
accounts. As indicated above, the results are presented in terms of cents of arbitrage gain
32
per dollar of net contribution.
Take, as an example, the 401(k) results for our 45 year-old couples with $70,000
in total annual household earnings. At the margin, these households can increase the
present value of their lifetime consumption by 23.3 cents for every dollar they contribute
on net (net of their immediate tax savings) to a tax-deferred retirement account. This is a
significant money machine. But it’s de minimis compared with the 154.7 cent money
machine available to 30 year-old couples with $500,000 in annual earnings. On the other
hand, it’s huge compared with the .7 cent money machine available to 30-year old single
households with earnings of $15,000.
As the two tables indicate, the arbitrage opportunities are greatest for high-earning
young and middle-aged households and for older households. That said, the pattern of
arbitrage opportunities by age and earnings is far from monotonic with respect to either
age or by earnings. Take singles households with $35,000 in annual earnings. The size
of their 401(k) money machine is 16.3 cents at age 30, 64.9 cents at age 45, and 32.0
cents at age 60. Or consider couples age 60. If they earn $20,000 per year in total, their
401(k) money machine generates 171.1 cent per net dollar contributed. With $70,000 in
annual earnings, their 401(k) machine produces only 28.0 cents per net dollar
contributed. But at $500,000 in annual earnings, the machine has improved. It now
produces 49.2 cents per net dollar contributed.
The Roth arbitrage opportunities are uniformly smaller than the 401(k)-type
arbitrage opportunities. 18 Nonetheless, they can be quite substantial. For example, 45year old singles earning $100,000 per year stand to receive 32.1 cents per dollar placed in
18 This analysis abstracts from potential future tax hikes that could significantly limit the marginal
arbitrage gain available from contributing to tax-deferred retirement accounts.
33
a Roth account. 19
The top Roth arbitrage opportunity is that of couples age 30 with
$500,000 in annual earnings. Their money machine generates 121.9 cents for free for
each dollar they place in a Roth account.
As in the case of marginal net tax rates on labor supply and saving, one can
decipher the reason a particular arbitrage opportunity is of a given size. In this regard,
the 5.7 cent and 171.1 cent respective arbitrage opportunities of 30 and 60 year-old
couples earning $20,000 are worth comparing. The 30 year-olds have zero (or very small
positive) federal tax obligations at age 30, before considering the EITC.
To take
advantage of the federal Saver’s Credit, they must be paying positive federal taxes.
The Saver’s Credit, enacted in 2001, matches low-income households’ retirement
account contributions by as much as dollar for dollar, but it does so by reducing their tax
payments to the extent these payments are positive; i.e., the Saver’s Credit is not
refundable, making many low-income households ineligible for it.
Our 60 year-old couple with $20,000 is low-income, but is eligible for the Saver’s
Credit. The reason is that the couple no longer has dependent children. With fewer
deductions, its adjusted gross income is higher than that of its 30 year-old analogue,
resulting in a higher (positive) federal tax liability. So when these households contribute
to a 401(k) vehicle, they not only reduce their current taxes by exempting their
contribution to the 401(k) from their taxable income; they also reduce them because of
the Saver’s Credit. These factors, in combination with the fact that these households will
be in very low tax brackets in the future, explain the fantastic size of this arbitrage
opportunity.
19 Note that all contributions to Roth accounts are on a net basis because there is no reduction in current
taxes associated with adding to one’s Roth account.
34
Interestingly, the same age-60 couple has a much smaller arbitrage potential if it
contributes not to a 401(k)-type vehicle, but to a Roth account. In this case, the money
machine spews forth only 47.5 cents per dollar contributed. The reasons this machine
does so poorly compared to the 401(k) machine number two.
First, the Roth
contributions generate no immediate reduction in taxes. Hence, there is no ability, as
there is with the 401(k) contribution, to arbitrage between current high and future low
marginal tax brackets. Second, each dollar of net contribution to a 401(k) entails a larger
gross contribution than in the case of a contribution to a Roth account. Since the Saver’s
Credit is paid on the basis of the gross contribution, not the net contribution, a given net
contribution to a 401(k)-type account generates a much larger Saver’s Credit than does
the same size net contribution made to a Roth account.
Another comparison between arbitrage incentives that’s worth making is that
between 45 year-old 401(k) contributing couples who earn $25,000 per year and those
who earn $35,000. The lower-earning couple is again not eligible to receive the Saver’s
Credit because of its negligible federal tax obligations, whereas the higher earning couple
is so eligible.
A final arbitrage opportunity worth highlighting is that of 30 year-old couples
with $500 in total annual earnings. These couples can earn 154.7 cents for free per net
dollar placed in a 401(k)-type account. This reflects the value of their current tax saving,
the fact that they are in much lower tax brackets in the future, and their ability to benefit
from tax-deferral (the ability to earn capital income on a tax-free basis). As the size of
the corresponding Roth arbitrage opportunity makes clear, the deferral advantage for this
household is significant.
35
V. Conclusion
The study of effective marginal tax rates is hardly new. 20 Nor is the observation
that transfer programs can dramatically affect effective marginal tax rate calculations, and
that marginal rates depend critically and sensitively on household demographic and
economic circumstances. But what is new here is the inclusion in one study of all the
major tax and transfer programs/elements that materially affect incentives to work and
save. On the tax side, this list includes federal and state personal income, corporate
income, sales and excise, and payroll taxes. On the transfer side, the list includes Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and TAFDC benefits.
America’s tax-transfer system confronts the vast majority of American
households with either high, very high, or astronomically high total effective marginal tax
rates on labor supply and saving.
It also provides very substantial tax arbitrage
opportunities to a subset of households, particularly those with high incomes or advanced
ages.
The pattern of net marginal tax rates and arbitrage opportunities with respect to
age, marital status, and earnings is quite simply all over the map. But this is what one
would expect given the amazing complexity of the fiscal system, the fact that the various
components of the system are being developed with little or no thought to their
interaction, and that the various governmental bodies responsible for the different
elements of our tax-transfer system appear to make little or no attempt to understand the
overall work and saving disincentives as well as arbitrage opportunities they are
20 Recent contributions to the literature on marginal net tax rates include CBO (2005) and Feenberg and
Poterba (2003).
36
producing.
37
References
Congressional Budget Office, “Effective Marginal Taxes on Labor Income,” November
2005.
Diamond, Peter, “Optimal Income Taxation: An Example with a U-Shaped Pattern for
the Optimal Marginal Rates,” American Economic Review, 88 (1), March 1998, 83-95.
Feenberg, Daniel and James Poterba, “The Alternative Minimum Tax and Effective
Marginal Tax Rates,” NBER Working Paper No. 10072, April 2003.
Gokhale, Jagadeesh, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, and Alexi Sluchynsky, “Does It Pay to
Work,” NBER Working Paper no. 9095, August 2002.
Kotlikoff, Laurence J., Ben Marx, and Pietro Rizza, “Americans’ Dependency on Social
Security,” Boston University, 2006. posted at
http://people.bu.edu/kotlikof/Americans%27%20Dependency%20on%20Social%20Secur
ity1.pdf
38
Table 1
Characteristics of Stylized Households
Single Households
Total
Annual
Household
Earnings
Assets at
Age 30
Annual
College
Expense
House
Value
Mortgage
Monthly
Mortgage
Payment
Annual
Property
Taxes
Annual Home
Maintenance
$10,000
$2,500
$2,500
$30,000
$24,000
$300
$300
$150
$15,000
$3,750
$3,750
$45,000
$36,000
$450
$450
$225
$25,000
$6,250
$6,250
$75,000
$60,000
$750
$750
$375
$35,000
$8,750
$8,750
$105,000
$84,000
$1,050
$1,050
$525
$50,000
$12,500
$12,500
$150,000
$120,000
$1,500
$1,500
$750
$100,000
$25,000
$25,000
$300,000
$240,000
$3,000
$3,000
$1,500
$250,000
$62,500
$50,000
$750,000
$600,000
$7,500
$7,500
$3,750
Married Households
Total
Annual
Household
Earnings
Assets at
Age 30
Annual
College
Expense
House
Value
Mortgage
Monthly
Mortgage
Payment
Annual
Property
Taxes
Annual
Home
Maintenance
$20,000
$5,000
$10,000
$60,000
$48,000
$600
$600
$300
$30,000
$7,500
$15,000
$90,000
$72,000
$900
$900
$450
$50,000
$12,500
$25,000
$150,000
$120,000
$1,500
$1,500
$750
$70,000
$17,500
$35,000
$210,000
$168,000
$2,100
$2,100
$1,050
$100,000
$25,000
$50,000
$300,000
$240,000
$3,000
$3,000
$1,500
$200,000
$50,000
$50,000
$600,000
$480,000
$6,000
$6,000
$3,000
$500,000
$125,000
$50,000
$1,500,000
$1,200,000
$15,000
$15,000
$7,500
39
Table 2
Marginal Net Tax Rates on Current-Year Labor Supply (Couples)
Total Annual Household Earnings ($000s)
Age
10
20
30
50
75
100
150
200
300
500
30
-14.2%
42.5%
42.3%
24.4%
36.9%
37.0%
45.9%
36.8%
43.9%
44.0%
45
-11.4%
41.7%
41.8%
35.8%
36.1%
36.1%
45.1%
35.9%
40.9%
43.2%
60
50.9%
32.0%
36.3%
36.5%
45.5%
45.5%
47.7%
43.2%
45.8%
45.0%
Table 3
Marginal Net Tax Rates on Current-Year Labor Supply (Singles)
Total Annual Household Earnings ($000s)
Age
10
20
30
50
75
100
125
150
200
250
30
72.3%
42.9%
42.9%
37.0%
37.0%
36.1%
36.2%
36.9%
42.0%
41.5%
45
-9.8%
42.9%
42.6%
37.0%
36.9%
36.1%
36.1%
36.9%
42.0%
41.5%
60
39.5%
37.3%
37.7%
46.4%
45.5%
38.8%
38.8%
44.0%
45.0%
44.0%
Table 4
Marginal Net Tax Rates on Life-Cycle Labor Supply
Couples
Total Annual Household Earnings ($000s)
10
20
30
50
75
100
150
200
300
500
2.1%
40.2%
40.1%
32.3%
36.6%
33.3%
42.2%
41.6%
42.8%
49.6%
Singles
Total Annual Household Earnings ($000s)
10
20
30
50
75
100
125
150
200
250
0.8%
34.7%
36.7%
32.6%
34.6%
39.5%
37.3%
37.7%
40.3%
41.3%
40
Table 5
The Marginal Net Taxation of Saving
Couples
Marginal Effective Tax on Regular Saving
Total Household Annual Income ($000s)
Age
20
30
50
70
100
200
500
30
20.5%
20.1%
20.5%
23.3%
24.9%
32.0%
51.5%
45
20.1%
21.4%
22.0%
22.6%
25.9%
30.3%
43.4%
60
38.6%
22.1%
22.0%
27.9%
34.1%
34.3%
36.5%
401(k) Arbitrage Opportunity
Total Household Annual Income ($000s)
Age
20
30
50
70
100
200
500
30
5.7¢
5.6¢
5.9¢
8.6¢
20.4¢
53.9 ¢
154.7¢
45
6.2¢
7.5¢
24.1¢
23.3¢
21.4¢
44.1¢
79.9¢
60
171.1¢
183.9¢
46.4¢
28.0¢
36.1¢
47.7¢
49.2%
Roth Arbitrage Opportunity
Total Household Annual Income ($000s)
Age
20
30
50
70
100
200
500
30
1.1¢
0.9¢
1.2¢
3.9¢
19.1¢
33.4¢
121.9¢
45
1.1¢
2.9¢
4.0¢
4.4¢
17.6¢
30.8¢
57.0¢
60
47.5¢
48.0¢
16.2¢
15.6¢
25.3¢
23.9¢
27.8¢
41
Table 6
The Marginal Net Taxation of Saving
Singles
Marginal Effective Tax on Regular Saving
Total Household Annual Income ($000s)
Age
10
15
25
35
50
100
250
30
82.7%
260.4%
18.8%
18.7%
20.4%
25.5%
30.6%
45
109.4%
19.6%
19.7%
20.1%
20.2%
30.7%
39.2%
60
20.5%
41.4%
22.0%
23.4%
30.3%
37.6%
35.8%
401(k) Arbitrage Opportunity
Total Household Annual Income ($000s)
Age
10
15
25
35
50
100
250
30
1.0¢
0.7¢
5.5¢
16.4¢
5.4¢
31.0¢
73.4¢
45
5.8¢
5.9¢
6.6¢
64.9¢
18.0¢
33.8¢
69.4¢
60
47.7¢
76.2¢
64.1¢
32.0¢
42.0¢
33.6¢
55.4¢
Roth Arbitrage Opportunity
Total Household Annual Income ($000s)
Age
10
15
25
35
50
100
250
30
1.0¢
0.7¢
0.6¢
0.6¢
2.2¢
28.6¢
53.3¢
45
1.3¢
0.9¢
1.7¢
9.6¢
1.4¢
32.1¢
50.6¢
60
7.1¢
23.9¢
35.0¢
9.6¢
18.2¢
28.0¢
26.5¢
42
Summary Graphs:
COUPLES
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
30 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
60
Net Income
50
Loss of
Children
Medicaid
Loss of TAFDC
due to asset
test
40
Net Income ($'000s)
Loss of
Parent
Medicaid
Net Income = Gross Income
30
Loss of Food
Stamps
20
10
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
Gross Income ($'000s)
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
30 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
500
450
400
Net Income
Net Income ($'000s)
350
Net Income = Gross Income
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
Gross Income ($'000s)
43
300
325
350
375
400
425
450
475
500
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
120%
Loss of Food
Stamps results
in infinite
effective
marginal tax
100%
Loss of Child
Medicaid results in
infinite effective
marginal tax
End reduction in
TAFDC (lost due
to asset test)
80%
Loss of Parent
Medicaid results in
infinite effective
marginal tax
Start
marginal
reduction in
TAFDC
60%
End EITC
clawback
40%
20%
Enter EITC
clawback
range
0%
-20%
0
2.5
5
7.5
10
12.5
15
17.5
20
22.5
25
27.5
30
32.5
35
37.5
40
42.5
45
47.5
50
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Couples $50,000-$500,000/yr
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Annual Income ($000's)
44
500
485
470
455
440
425
410
395
380
365
350
335
320
305
290
275
260
245
230
215
200
185
170
155
140
125
110
95
80
65
50
-20%
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
30 Year Old Couples
800
PV Lifetime Spending with Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending No Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
700
Loss of child Medicaid
results in infinite effective
marginal tax
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
600
500
400
300
Loss of child Medicaid
results in infinite effective
marginal tax
200
100
0
0
2.5
5
7.5
10
12.5
15
17.5
20
22.5
25
27.5
30
32.5
35
37.5
40
42.5
45
47.5
Annual Gross Incom e ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
30 Year Old Couples
8000
7000
PV Lifetime Spending with Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending No Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
13
5
15
0
16
5
18
0
19
5
21
0
22
5
24
0
25
5
27
0
28
5
30
0
31
5
33
0
34
5
36
0
37
5
39
0
40
5
42
0
43
5
45
0
46
5
48
0
49
5
75
90
10
5
12
0
45
60
0
0
15
30
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
6000
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
45
50
Marginal Lifetime Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Couples $0-$50,000/yr
120%
Loss of parent Medicaid
results in infinite effective
marginal tax
100%
Loss of child Medicaid
results in infinite effective
marginal tax
Loss of food
stamps due to
asset test
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
0
10
20
30
50
40
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Lifetime Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Couples $50,000-$500,000/yr
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Annual Income ($000's)
46
500
485
470
455
440
425
410
395
380
365
350
335
320
305
290
275
260
245
230
215
200
185
170
155
140
125
110
95
80
65
50
-20%
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
45 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
60
50
Net Income
Lose parent
Medicaid
Net Income = Gross Income
Net Income ($'000s)
40
30
Lose child
Medicaid
20
10
48
49.5
45
46.5
42
43.5
39
40.5
36
37.5
33
34.5
30
31.5
27
28.5
24
25.5
21
22.5
18
19.5
15
16.5
12
13.5
9
10.5
6
7.5
3
4.5
0
1.5
-
Gross Income ($'000s)
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
45 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
500
450
400
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
Net Income ($'000s)
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
Gross Income ($'000s)
47
300
325
350
375
400
425
450
475
500
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
45 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
100%
Lose
parent
Medicaid
80%
Lose child
Medicaid
60%
40%
Enter EITC
clawback
range
20%
End EITC
clawback
range
Lose
LIHEAP
EITC transfers
plateau
0%
-20%
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
50
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
45 Year Old Couples $50,000-$500,000/yr
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
Annual Income ($000's)
48
325
350
375
400
425
450
475
500
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
45 Year Old Couples
700
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
600
500
Lose
Medicaid in
middle age
400
Lose SSI,
Medicaid, and
some Medicare
when old, and
food stamps in
middle age
300
200
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
No Tax
100
450
50
46
425
48
44
42
40
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
8
10
6
4
2
0
0
Annual Gross Incom e ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
45 Year Old Couples
6000
PV Lifetime Spending with Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
5000
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending No Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
49
325
350
375
400
475
500
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
60 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
60
50
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
Net Income ($'000s)
40
Loss of
Medicaid
Benefits
30
20
10
50
48
46
44
42
40
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
8
10
6
4
2
0
-
Gross Income ($'000s)
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
60 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
500
450
400
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
300
250
200
150
100
50
Gross Income ($'000s)
50
495
480
465
450
435
420
405
390
375
360
345
330
315
300
285
270
255
240
225
210
195
180
165
150
135
120
105
90
75
60
45
30
15
0
Net Income ($'000s)
350
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
60 Year Old Couples Earning $0-$50,000/yr
100%
80%
Loss of
Medicaid
Benefits
60%
40%
End Food
Stamps
clawback
20%
0%
50
48
46
44
42
40
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
8
10
6
4
2
0
-20%
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
60 Year Old Couples $50,000-$500,000/yr
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
Annual Income ($000's)
51
325
350
375
400
425
450
475
500
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
60 Year Old Couples
500
Loss of
Medicaid
Benefits in old
age (65yrs+)
450
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
400
350
Loss of Medicaid
Benefits (60-65yrs)
300
250
200
150
100
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
No Tax
50
50
48
46
44
42
40
38
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
8
10
6
4
2
0
0
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
60 Year Old Couples
4500
4000
PV Lifetime Spending with Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending No Tax & Transfers ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
52
325
350
375
400
425
450
475
500
SINGLES
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
30 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$25,000/yr
35
30
Loss of Medicaid
results in infinite
effective marginal tax
at $24k
Net Income ($'000s)
25
Loss of food
stamps results
in infinite
effective
marginal tax at
$8.5K
20
Loss of TAFDC
results in infinite
effective
marginal tax at
$10.5K
15
10
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Gross Income ($'000s)
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
30 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$250,000/yr
300
250
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
Net Income ($'000s)
200
150
100
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250
Gross Income ($'000s)
53
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$25,000/yr
120%
Loss of food
stamps results
in infinite
effective
marginal tax at
$8.5K
100%
80%
Loss of
parent
Medicaid
Start marginal
reduction in
TAFDC
60%
Loss of
child
Medicaid
End reduction
in TAFDC (lost
due to asset
test)
40%
Marginal
reduction in
food stamps
20%
0%
-20%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Singles $25,000-$250,000/yr
120%
100%
80%
Exit EITC
clawback
range
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
25
40
55
70
85
100
115
130
145
160
Annual Income ($000's)
54
175
190
205
220
235
250
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
30 Year Old Singles
400
350
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
300
250
200
150
100
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
50
No Tax
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Annual Gross Incom e ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
30 Year Old Singles
3500
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
3000
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
No Tax
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
55
Marginal Lifetime Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Singles $0-$25,000/yr
120%
100%
Loss of
Medicaid
results in
infinite effective
marginal tax
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
0
2.5
5
7.5
10
12.5
15
17.5
20
22.5
25
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Lifetime Effective Tax Rate
30 Year Old Singles $25,000-$250,000/yr
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
25
50
75
100
125
150
Annual Income ($000's)
56
175
200
225
250
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
45 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$25,000/yr
40
Net Income
35
Net Income = Gross Income
Net Income ($'000s)
30
Loss of TAFDC
due to Asset
Test
Loss of
Parent
Medicaid
25
20
Loss of
Child
Medicaid
Loss of
Food
Stamps
15
10
5
21
21.8
22.5
23.3
24
24.8
225
233
240
248
20.3
203
218
19.5
195
210
18
18.8
188
17.3
180
16.5
173
15
15.8
14.3
13.5
12
12.8
11.3
10.5
9
9.75
7.5
8.25
6
6.75
4.5
5.25
3
3.75
1.5
2.25
0
0.75
-
Gross Income ($'000s)
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
45 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$250,000/yr
300
250
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
150
100
50
Gross Income ($'000s)
57
165
158
150
143
135
128
120
113
105
90
97.5
82.5
75
60
67.5
45
52.5
30
37.5
15
22.5
0
7.5
Net Income ($'000s)
200
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
45 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$25,000/yr
140%
120%
Loss of
Parent
Medicaid
100%
80%
Loss of
Children
Medicaid
60%
Loss of
TAFDC due
to asset
test
40%
Enter EITC
clawback
range
Begin
marginal
loss of
TAFDC
20%
0%
-20%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
45 Year Old Singles $25,000-$250,000/yr
140%
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
-20%
25
40
55
70
85
100
115
130
145
160
Annual Income ($000's)
58
175
190
205
220
235
250
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
45 Year Old Singles
350
Loss of
Child
Medicaid
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
300
250
Loss of
Parent
Medicaid
200
150
100
50
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
No Tax
24
24.8
23.3
22.5
21
21.8
20.3
19.5
18
18.8
17.3
16.5
15
15.8
14.3
13.5
12
12.8
11.3
10.5
9
9.75
7.5
8.25
6
6.75
4.5
5.25
3
3.75
1.5
2.25
0
0.75
0
Annual Gross Incom e ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
45 Year Old Singles
3500
3000
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
2000
1500
1000
500
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
59
248
240
233
225
218
210
203
195
188
180
173
165
158
150
143
135
128
120
113
105
90
97.5
75
82.5
67.5
60
45
52.5
30
37.5
22.5
15
7.5
0
0
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
No Tax
2500
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
60 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$50,000/yr
30
25
Net Income
Loss of
Medicaid
Benefits
.
Net Income ($'000s)
20
Net Income = Gross Income
15
10
5
1
12 2
.7
5
13
.5
14
.2
5
15
15
.7
5
16
.5
17
.2
5
1
18 8
.7
5
19
.
20 5
.2
5
21
21
.7
5
22
.5
23
.2
5
2
24 4
.7
5
9
9.
75
10
.
11 5
.2
5
7.
5
8.
25
6
6.
75
4.
5
5.
25
3
3.
75
1.
5
2.
25
0
0.
75
-
Gross Income ($'000s)
Gross Income vs. Net Income (1 year)
60 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$50,000/yr
300
250
Net Income
Net Income = Gross Income
150
100
50
Gross Income ($'000s)
60
248
240
233
225
218
210
203
195
188
180
173
165
158
150
143
135
128
120
113
105
97.5
90
82.5
75
67.5
60
52.5
45
37.5
30
22.5
15
7.5
0
Net Income ($'000s)
200
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
60 Year Old Singles Earning $0-$25,000/yr
100%
90%
80%
Loss of
Medicaid
Benefits
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Fail asset test
for Food
Stamps (only at
this income)
20%
10%
0%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Annual Income ($000's)
Marginal Effective Tax Rate
60 Year Old Singles $50,000-$500,000/yr
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
25
40
55
70
85
100
115
130
145
160
Annual Income ($000's)
61
175
190
205
220
235
250
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
60 Year Old Singles
300
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
250
Loss of
Medicaid
Benefits
200
150
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
No Tax
100
50
24
24.8
23.3
22.5
21
21.8
20.3
19.5
18
18.8
17.3
16.5
15
15.8
14.3
13.5
12
12.8
11.3
10.5
9
9.75
7.5
8.25
6
6.75
4.5
5.25
3
3.75
1.5
2.25
0
0.75
0
Annual Gross Incom e ($'000s)
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
60 Year Old Singles
2500
PV Lifetime Spending Including Transfers ($'000s)
No Tax
1500
1000
500
Annual Gross Income ($'000s)
62
248
240
233
225
218
210
203
195
188
180
173
165
158
150
143
135
128
120
113
105
90
97.5
75
82.5
67.5
60
45
52.5
30
37.5
22.5
15
7.5
0
0
PV Lifetime Spending ($'000s)
2000
Appendix
Our Transfer Calculator
The following is a list of the non-Social Security transfer benefit calculated by our
transfer calculator.
-
Transitional Assistance to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC)
Food Stamps (FS)
Medicaid
Medicare
Supplementary Security Income (SSI)
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants And Children (WIC)
The annual levels of each transfer benefit are determined taking into account all
eligibility criteria, which often include demographics (e.g., number and ages of children),
as well as applicable income and asset tests. Each program has, however, eligibility rules
and benefit formulae that deal with special cases. For this study, we consider the rules
and benefit formulae that apply to the standard cases.
Modeling Specific Benefit Programs
Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children -- TAFDC
Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) is a cash assistance
program designed to assist needy families with dependent child or pregnant women.
TAFDC is the formal name in Massachusetts of the program formerly known as AFDC
(Aid to Families with Dependent Children). Most states have adopted the name
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The terms “transitional” and
“temporary” reflect the new objective of the programs, namely to provide short-term
assistance to needy families and to encourage such families to return to the labor force.
Under the current rules of the TAFDC, eligible household may generally receive
assistance for no more than 24 months within any 5-year period.
There are several steps in defining eligibility for benefits. The calculations needed to
determine eligibility, both non-financial and financial, and benefit levels can be
complicated even for the standard cases we consider.
Non-Financial Eligibility requires that the child must be deprived of the care or support
of at least one parent. Deprivation factors include: death, continued absence, physical or
mental incapacity, unemployment or underemployment of (a) parent(s). A dependent
child may be under age 19 or, if a fulltime school student, age 19. We assume that our
family units meet these program-specific requirements.
To meet requirements for
Household
Eligibility Standard (185%
Size
of the Need Standard)
2
982
3
1,171
63
4
1,352
Need Standard/
Payment Standard
531
633
731
Financial Eligibility a household must pass two income tests. First, family unit gross
income cannot exceed 185 percent of the Need Standard that applies given family size.
Second, gross income minus certain applicable deductions cannot exceed the Need
Standard itself.
Standard monthly deductions include
- a $90 deduction for each employed family member.
- an extra $30 plus one-half of gross income above $120 deduction for the employed
TAFDC benefit recipients or applicants who received benefits in the previous 4
months.
- dependent-care deductions that range between $50 to $200 for a child under two and
$44-$175 for a child 2 or over, depending on the hours worked by a recipient.
We applied the $90 deduction per working individual for all 12 months of each year of
eligibility and the maximum deduction levels for childcare for children between ages 1
and 5. However, we did not implement the extra deduction because of its complex
dynamic nature.
If the family unit passes both income tests it gets financial assistance defined as the
difference between the maximum payment standard and net income after deductions. In
accordance with standard program restrictions on the length of benefit receipt, we limited
the receipt of benefits to no more than 24 months within any five-year period. Hence, for
those of our stylized households who are eligible for assistance, benefits follow a cyclical
pattern: two years on followed by three years off, provided the asset test criterion is met.
TAFDC regulation in Massachusetts assumes that families receiving benefits may also
receive $40 of monthly housing allowance, which we add to the monthly TAFDC benefit.
Sources
1.
Mass Resources. Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC).
http://www.massresources.org/pages.cfm?contentID=17&pageID=4&Subpages=yes
Food Stamps
The purpose of the Food Stamp Program is to improve the diet of low-income families by
increasing their food purchasing power. Households must satisfy both state and federal
requirements to qualify for food stamps. There are several steps in determining program
eligibility and calculating the value of the stamp benefits.
First, gross monthly (earned and unearned) income cannot exceed the limits specified in
the table below for households of different sizes. Unearned income includes Social
Security and private pension benefits, SSI benefits, unemployment insurance benefits,
and TAFDC payments. In our study we include SSI and TAFDC payments as part of the
income used to calculate the value of food stamps.
The following monthly deductions apply:
64
-
$134 per household.
20 percent of gross income.
Dependent day care: under 2 years of age, up to $200 per month; over 2 years of age,
up to $175 per month. We apply here the TAFDC program dependent care deduction
for every child between the ages of 1 and 5.
Medical expenses of individuals over 60 years old are deductible beyond the first $35.
These expenses are calculated as the sum of payments for prescription drugs,
Medicare premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance payments.
Excess housing costs, which are defined as housing expenses in excess of half of the
household's income after other deductions. Prior to age 60 there is a maximum level
of $388 for deductible excess housing costs.
Net monthly income (monthly income after deductions) cannot exceed the family-size
specific limits given in the table below. The value of the stamps is the maximum
monthly allotment less 30 percent of net income. The 30 percent figure reflects the
expectation that recipient households will spend about 30 percent of their resources on
food.
Household
Size
Sources
1.
1
2
3
4
Gross Monthly
Net Monthly
Income Limit
Income Limit
1,009
776
1354
1041
1698
1306
2043
1571
Maximum Monthly
Benefit
149
274
393
499
Mass Resources. Food Stamps Program.
http://www.massresources.org/pages.cfm?contentID=12&pageID=3&Subpages=yes
Medicare
Medicare is a federal health insurance program for the aged and disabled (we ignore
disability benefits and focus on the benefits for the aged only). It incorporates two parts:
Hospital Insurance (HI), also known as “Part A”, and Supplementary Medical insurance
(SMI), also known as “Part B”. Hospital Insurance is generally provided automatically to
individuals aged 65 and over who are entitled to Social Security benefits. Part A helps
pay for care in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, hospice, and some home health care.
Enrolling in SMI is optional; part B helps pay for: doctors, outpatient hospital care,
clinical laboratory tests, durable medical equipment, most supplies, and some other
services not covered by Part A.
Medicare Part A is primarily financed through a mandatory 2.9 percent payroll tax. Part
B is financed in part by participant premium payments of $78.20 per month regardless of
benefits received. In addition, there are specific cost-sharing arrangements. In particular,
under Part A in each benefit period a recipient of benefits pays: $776 for a hospital stay
of 1-60 days; an additional $194 per day for days 61-90; an additional $338 per day for
days 91-150; and all costs for each day beyond 150 days.
We assume that at age 65 both husband and wife enroll in both Part A and Part B. It is
65
typical for individual to enroll in both plans. We assumed that in each year an individual,
if s/he receives benefits, stays in the hospital less than 60 days and so pays the fixed fee
of $776. Under Part B, participants receiving benefits must first meet an annual $110
deductible and, in most cases, cover 20 percent of the approved amount after the
deductible.
In our calculations, we impute to each age-eligible spouse at a particular age their
expected net Medicare benefits at that age. Any actual out-of-pocket cost sharing and
premium payments were deducted from the gross income in calculations of the Food
Stamps benefits for eligible individuals.
Our data on Medicare benefits
for aged come from the M edicare Reimbursement per Eligible Enrollee (2005)
Part A
Part B
Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare
21
Age
Men
Women
Men
Women
Database.
This
database
2,987
2,504
2,104
2,218
6569
provides
average
Medicare
benefits under Part A and under
3,923
3,368
2,731
2,640
Part B classified by age and sex 70-74
5,005
4,376
3,249
2,912
75-79
in 2003. We found that, in the
6,004
5,274
3,498
2,877
80-84
recent past, average benefits per 85+
7,072
6,400
3,413
2,581
person enrolled were 26 percent
and 5 percent greater, respectively, under Plan A and Plan B, in Massachusetts compared
to the national averages. We incorporated that adjustment for all age cohorts and both
sexes. We converted all 2003 amounts to 2005 dollars using CPI for medical
expenditures, provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Sources
1. Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare Database (September 2005).
2. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Internet: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/
Medicaid
Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides medical care to the poor. In 2002
Medicaid recipients constituted 17 percent of the US population. Over 50 percent of all
Medicaid income-eligible infants, children, and adults had no access to any other form of
private or public health insurance. However, not all eligible individuals apply for
Medicaid. For purposes of this study we assume that our households, when eligible, do
apply and receive all Medicaid benefits to which they are entitled.
Medicaid covers most, but not all, medically necessary medical care and services
provided to eligible individuals. Each state establishes its eligibility standards and general
rules. The policies are complex and vary considerably from state to state. In
Massachusetts, Medicaid is officially known as MassHealth. In addition to serving the
poor in general, MassHealth incorporates special programs to assist poor pregnant
women and children, the disabled, and immigrants who are in need of emergency care.
21
Access to these data was generously provided to us by Professor Jonathan Skinner of Dartmouth College.
66
MassHealth provides the following services:
- Inpatient hospital services
- Outpatient services: hospitals, clinics, doctors, dentists (limited dental coverage for
adults), family planning, and home-health care
- Medical services: lab tests, X rays, therapies, pharmacy services, dental services,
eyeglasses, hearing aids, medical equipment and supplies, adult day health, and adult
foster care
- Mental health and substance abuse services: inpatient and outpatient
- Living in nursing homes
- Payment of the Medicare premium, coinsurance, and deductibles for certain groups of
elderly
Like Medicare, Medicaid operates as a vendor payment program; recipients receive
benefits directly in the form of medical services provided by qualified vendors. Benefits
are provided as long as the individual meets general and financial eligibility criteria.
Financial eligibility criteria include income eligibility requirements, which may be
different for different family members, and assets eligibility requirements. MassHealth
Standard Program specifies that the family monthly income before taxes and deductions
cannot exceed:
-
200 percent of the FPL (Federal Poverty Level) for pregnant women and infants
150 percent of the FPL for children under age 19
133 percent of the FPL for parents with children under age 19
Under MassHealth the income limit for an eligible individual (couple) aged 65 and over
is 100 percent of the FPL. In addition, in Massachusetts if an individual is eligible for
SSI, s/he would also be eligible for Medicaid. The table below presents the respective
monthly income limits.
Federal poverty Lines (2005)
Household
Size
1
2
3
4
100%
798
1,069
1,341
1,613
133%
1,061
1,422
1,783
2,145
150%
1,196
1,604
2,011
2,419
200%
1,595
2,138
2,682
3,225
Medicaid eligibility may be extended to individuals with incomes greater than the above
income limits if they are deemed “medically needy.” States provide residual financing of
such individuals’ medical treatment costs, provided they spend their excess resources
(income and assets) down to the eligibility limits. This is particularly the case for
individuals moving into nursing homes with insufficient resources to fully finance their
stays. For simplicity, we do not consider coverage of the medical needy in this analysis.
In each year we determine for each family member of a particular age and sex if s/he
67
meets appropriate income standards of eligibility and then allocate to that individual the
Medicaid age- and sex-specific benefit projected to prevail in that year. Fortunately,
statistics on Medicaid eligibles, recipients, and total vendor payments are available by sex
and age. When the beneficiary in our stylized case is a child under 19, we ignore gender
difference in benefits.
If a person over age 65 is eligible for Medicaid, his/her Medicare cost-sharing will be
partially or fully financed by Medicaid. There are two broad groups of dual-eligibles:
those for whom Medicaid pays only Medicare part B premiums (so-called, SLMB
eligibles), and those who get extensive coverage from Medicaid (see the discussion on
Medicaid-Medicare interactions below). Our calculated average benefit values for aged
eligibles reflect Medicaid payments made for both these groups. However, we impute
full Medicaid benefits only to the elderly with incomes less than 100 percent of the
federal poverty line; and we treat SLMB eligibles separately. Specifically, for those over
65, who are eligible for the full coverage, we adjust the average Medicaid benefits by
excluding payments for SLMB eligibles, using data on the fraction (4.6 percent) of those
receiving benefits from both Medicare and Medicaid who are SLMB recipients, the size
of the SLMB Medicaid benefit (equal to the annual Part B premium), and the overall
average Medicaid benefit net of Nursing Home financing. Our final calculated adjusted
age- and sex-specific Medicaid benefits for 2005 are presented in the table below. We
used the BLS index of medical expenditure growth to measure 2002 benefit levels in
2005 dollars.
Estimated 2005 Medicaid Benefits in
Massachusetts, net of SLMB program financing
Average Net Benefit per Eligible
Age
Female
Male
All Ages
$
6,145 $
5,711
Under 1
$
3,468 $
3,747
1-5
$
1,839 $
2,148
6-12
$
1,660 $
2,094
13-14
$
2,134 $
2,777
15-18
$
2,807 $
3,018
19-20
$
2,814 $
2,590
21-44
$
4,503 $
6,653
45-64
$
10,216 $
11,424
65-74
$
9,353 $
11,021
75-84
$
15,914 $
15,300
85 AND OVER $
26,960 $
23,243
In each year we determine for each family member of a particular age and sex if s/he
meets appropriate income standards for eligibility and then allocate to that individual the
Medicaid age- and sex-specific benefit projected to prevail in that year. When the
beneficiary in our stylized case is a child under 19, we ignore gender difference in
benefits.
Sources
68
1.
2.
3.
2005 Health and Human Services poverty guidelines. Internet:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/05poverty.shtml
MassHealth. Internet: www.mass.gov
Medicaid. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Internet:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov
Supplementary Security Income (SSI)
Supplementary Security Income is a federal program that makes monthly payments to
people who have limited income and resources if they are 65 or older or are disabled. In
our study we ignore payments to the disabled. If individuals
Household
Income
meet the program's income limits, after deductions, they
Size
Limit
receive monthly benefits. Payments up to the Federal income
1
708
limits are paid by the federal government, while states provide
2
1,071
supplements that are calculated as the difference between state
and federal income limits. Standard deductions are $20 per month plus the sum of a) an
additional $65 per month if labor income exceeds $65 per month and b) one-half of
wages over $65. In Massachusetts, an SSI-eligible person is automatically enrolled in
Medicaid.
For every year we first determine age eligibility for each spouse, and then income
eligibility for the household. When both spouses are eligible, their combined benefit
equals the difference between the income limit for a two-person household and the
spouses’ combined income after deductions. When only one spouse is age eligible, the
eligible spouse’s benefit is calculated according to the regulations using either an
individual- or couple-income limit depending on the level of the income of the ineligible
spouse.
Sources
1.
Mass Resources. Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
http://www.massresources.org/pages.cfm?contentID=18&pageID=4%20&Subpages=yes
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
LIHEAP is a block-grant program of the Federal Government that allocates funds
between states to operate various home energy assistance programs for needy households.
The funds may be used for the purposes of home heating and cooling assistance, energycrisis intervention, and low-cost weatherization or other energy-related home repairs.
LIHEAP assists eligible low-income households in meeting the heating or cooling
portion of their residential energy needs. Low-income households are defined as
households with incomes that cannot exceed the greater of 150 percent of the poverty
level or 60 percent of state median income ($31,952, $39,469, and $46,987 for 2-, 3-, and
4- person families respectively in Massachusetts in 2005). The states have flexibility in
setting their income eligibility at or below this maximum standard. LIHEAP payments
can be made to households where one or more persons are receiving Supplemental
Security Income (SSI), Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC/TANF), or food
stamps. Priority may be granted to those households with the greatest energy cost in
69
relation to income, taking into consideration the presence of children and elderly.
In Massachusetts in 2004, 134 thousand households received LIHEAP benefits.
However, this represents only 15.5% of LIHEAP-eligible households. As such, while the
average benefit per recipient is $480, the amount received per eligible household is only a
fraction thereof. In our calculations, we assume that each eligible household received
15.5% of the maximum possible LIHEAP benefit according to their income test relative
to the poverty line.
Sources
1.
2.
3.
Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/components/cs/1PrgApps/LIHEAP/chart.pdf
Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/components/cs/Fuel/default.htm#income%20chart
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Internet:
http://www.liheap.ncat.org/tables/FY2004/heatbenefit04.htm
Internet:
Internet:
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program For Women, Infants And Children (WIC)
WIC is a program designed to improve the health of pregnant women, new mothers, and
their infants. WIC targets population groups that have low income and are at risk
nutritionally, specifically:
-
pregnant women through pregnancy and up to 6 weeks after birth or after pregnancy
ends
breastfeeding women through their infant's first birthday;
infants through their first birthday.
children up to age 5.
WIC benefits include: supplemental nutrition, nutrition counseling, and screening
services. In most WIC State agencies, WIC participants receive either actual food items
or food vouchers to purchase specific foods to supplement their diets. Different food
packages are provided for different categories of participants.
Although federally funded, WIC is administrated by state agencies and managed by local
agencies. The WIC Program has certain eligibility requirements that are based on income
and nutritional risk. In order to qualify, WIC applicants must show medically verified
evidence of health or nutrition risk. In addition, their family income generally must be
below 185 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). Certain applicants can be judged
income-eligible for WIC based on their participation in Food Stamps, Medicaid, and
AFDC/TANF programs. WIC does not serve all eligible individuals - participation is
limited by the availability of Federal funding. Usually, program applicants are ranked by
need.
The estimated 2004 average monthly benefit for WIC recipients (be they women, infants,
or children) in Massachusetts is $33.80. For our calculations, we assume that all eligible
households receive this average benefit times the probability of receipt, which was 81
70
percent in 2004. The average monthly benefit of the $33.80 multiplied by 0.81 is $27.38,
which implies probability-adjusted annual benefits of $328.52 to all of our eligible
households.
Sources
1.
2.
WIC Program. Food And Nutrition Service. Internet: http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/
http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/wisummary.htm
Massachusetts state government. Internet: http://www.mass.gov
71
and